Many years ago I was on patrol with my colleague Robert when we were called to an address where the informant's flatmate had climbed onto the roof of their block of flats. Nothing else was known when the call came out. Robert and I rushed to the scene to find out what was happening.
Upon arrival we noticed the address was a large block of flats, nine floors in height. The roof was in two parts, it had a pointed, triangular section and a flat section. I could see the silhouette of a young man standing on the edge of the flat section of the roof.
We went inside and up to the flat of the original informant, a flatmate of the male on the roof. He did not know the young man well, as he had recently moved in. We made our way to the top of the building to try and communicate with the young chap on the roof. Access to the roof was gained via a ladder to a hatch in the ceiling of the communal hallway (it was quite an old building). Unfortunately, the young man had somewhow wedged the hatch shut from above, it was not budging.
Robert and I knew we had to get a line of communication open with the young man so we resorted to leaning out of a living room window on the 9th floor. The poor residents of that flat were flabbergasted. I remember they were particularly worried about the paint on their window sill. I leaned out first and could just see the male. Robert held my legs tightly from inside the flat as I strained to make myself known and gain eye contact. I could see that the male was now sitting on the edge and was rocking back and forth. He was mumbling under his breath. I asked him his name and he told me his name was Kevin.
I told Kevin he would be OK and asked him to let me up through the hatch. But he had stopped talking to me. He was rocking, precariously, on the edge of the building and mumbling to himself under his breath. It was clear that he was having some sort of mental health breakdown.
His details were unknown to the police system and his flatmate said that he was usually healthy, as far as he knew. A quick look around Kevin's room gave us enough to work with. He was an Oxford University Graduate. He was keen on politics. Clearly an intellectual and academic. Robert and I guessed that something traumatic must of happened to cause his sudden breakdown.
Robert tapped a key on Kevin's laptop and it whirred into life. His computer's background was a picture of Kevin and a beautiful young blond. Could this girl be the reason Kevin was now rocking back and forth on the edge of a deathly drop?
Robert and I took it in turns to lean out the window and talk to Kevin. We continued for around 3 hours while other contingencies, such as the fire brigade, were put into place. It is excruciatingly difficult to talk to somebody that you barely know, without any form of response, for any length of time. Especially when you are trying not to irritate or upset them. It is a skill in itself. You quickly realise how repetitive you have become, and the spaces between the most calming and reassuring words you can think of becomes longer and longer. After a number of hours, I was leaning out when Kevin quickly stood and suddenly scrambled to the top of the triangular section of the roof. I watched him dart up there and was convinced he was going to leap off the top.
He sat on the point of the triangular roof and continued to rock, and we continued talking to him, just a little louder. He was now in an even more precarious position as the slightest slip would see him fall from the point of the roof.
Eventually he came in when the fire brigade made their way to the roof in a cherry picker. He simply got in it as soon as they reached him. I don't know if we had worn him down or he was just ready to come inside. All I knew was that I was exhausted and I couldn't feel my legs.
The beautiful young blond had, in fact, been the cause of Kevin's breakdown. They had been at Oxford together, studying politics and Kevin had then moved to London for a rather prestigious job. Due to the distance involved the blond ended the relationship. That was enough for Kevin to seriously consider ending his life.
We took him to a Mental Health Hospital to get help. He tried to run away when we got to the hospital so I hugged him. He was only small. I hugged him as if he were my own son and as I did so I walked him into the secure unit, without letting go.
Anonymous Bobby
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